Meth-Addled Passenger Pleads Guilty

posted by Jim Forsyth
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3 years ago

A California man who began hallucinating on a Southwest Airlines flight into Midland in May and became convinced that the flight was taking him 'straight to hell,' has pled guilty to interference with a flight crew, and could face four years in federal prison, which will be hell.

1200 WOAI news reprots that Bryan Allen, 32, of San Juan Capistrano, California, admitted he had smoked meth and drank whiskey at the Las Vegas airport before boarding Southwest Airlines Flight 863 to Dallas with a stop in Midland on May 23.

Allen told the judge that he believed the pilots of the plane were 'evil' and he 'needed to either get off the plane or get into the cockpit to stop the pilots.'

As the plane began his descent into Midland, probably the most sensitive time of the flight, and after all of the passengers had been told to stow their tray tables and buckle their seat belts, Allen rushed the cockpit door, blowing past flight attendants who tried to stop him. Federal investigators say Allen made 'several attempts to get into the cockpit,' which is locked during flight.

After the plane landed, investigators say Allen pushed a flight attendant out of the way and ran up the jet way ramp into the airport, but was apprehended by Midland Police officers, who had to wrestle him to the ground.